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The meaning of approximative adverbs: evidence from European Portuguese

Matos Amaral, Patricia
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186724054

Abstract Details

2007, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Spanish and Portuguese.
This dissertation presents an analysis of the semantic-pragmatic properties of adverbs like English 'almost' and 'barely' (“approximative adverbs”), both in a descriptive and in a theoretical perspective. In particular, it investigates to what extent the meaning distinctions encoded by the system of approximative adverbs in European Portuguese (EP) shed light on the characterization of these adverbs as a class and on the challenges raised by their semantic-pragmatic properties. The meaning of the EP adverbials 'quase', 'mal' and 'por pouco' is analyzed in detail. The focus is on the intuitive notion of closeness associated with the meaning of these adverbs and the related question of the asymmetry of their meaning components. It is argued that approximative adverbs are degree adverbs that contribute a comparison between properties along a scalar dimension. Their meaning makes reference to a standard value of comparison that is retrieved on the basis of both lexical and contextual information.
Scott Schwenter (Advisor)
395 p.
approximative adverbs; scalar adverbs; pragmatics; semantics; psycholinguistics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Matos Amaral, P. (2007). The meaning of approximative adverbs: evidence from European Portuguese [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186724054

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Matos Amaral, Patricia. The meaning of approximative adverbs: evidence from European Portuguese. 2007. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186724054.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Matos Amaral, Patricia. "The meaning of approximative adverbs: evidence from European Portuguese." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186724054

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1186724054
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© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.